Brian “BC Camplight” Christinzio has a new album out on Bella Union on May 12th, of which this is the title track. Hard to characterise, quirky singer-songwriter is hardly a genre – maybe think of a melange of Tom Waits and Andrew Gold with a little portion of Flaming Lips on the side. Does that help? Not really. Just listen.
This song, and the album, reflects on how BC Camplight’s life has the knack of going wrong – he explains that “This is not a story of victory. It is a document created in the shadow of incredible darkness. One from which the creator hadn’t planned on escaping, and still doesn’t. Hence the title of the album. It is the result of an illness that I’ve battled my whole life. It isn’t something that the world has done to me. It’s the world I live in and it’s no one’s fault.” Specifically the album is reaction to the relationship with his fiancé crumbling after nine inseparable years and the fallout from this break-up coupled to long-term struggles with addiction and mental health. It should be a hard listen – but it isn’t, there’s some sleight of hand going on as BC Camplight acknowledges “For the first time since I arrived in Manchester I thought, why am I here? I came to find my music, and to find her, and she’s gone. I do everything in my power not to be dramatic, but I didn’t want to be alive anymore. So, I imagined what your last day on earth would be like. Though the lyrics are often quite sweet, like appreciating the looks that strangers give each other, from the perspective of a guy soaking up every last bit of life.”
